Overnight Plum Butter

You can take advantage of less-than-perfect fruit with this recipe. If you don’t have a plum tree, look around. Many landscapers plant flowering plum trees in parking lots and business fronts that produce small, mouth-puckeringly sour plums. These are perfectly acceptable to use — simply slice off both “cheeks” of each plum and discard the pit-containing center. I have also made use of plums from the grocery store with equally delicious results. Recipe

8 cups pitted and chopped plums1 quart (32 oz.) unsweetened applesauce,or 6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped1 1/2 cups sugar1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon1/4 tsp ground cloves1 Tbs apple cider vinegarCombine ingredients in a 4 quart slow cooker and start cooking without the lid on high heat in the afternoon. Before you go to bed, reduce heat to low, leave the lid off, and simmer overnight. It will darken and become very thick as it cooks. If you happen to wake up at night, give it a stir. In the morning, stir and taste the butter and check for consistency. Butter should be thick and glossy; a wooden spoon will stand upright in the cooker.Refrigerate in lidded containers up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 1 year. You can also water bath can Overnight Plum Butter. Pour hot sauce into hot half pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a headspace tool or plastic knife. Wipe rims of jars with a clean, damp paper towel. Apply lids and rings and tighten according to manufacturer’s directions. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water canner. Adjust processing time for your specific altitude and read up on the basics of canning in a recent edition of the Ball Blue Book or contact your local Extension Service for classes and publications.Yield varies depending on how long the butter is cooked down. I usually end up with about 7 half-pint jars.Enjoy Overnight Plum Butter on toast, bran muffins, vanilla ice cream, or use as a dessert topping.

1 cup quinoa
Place quinoa in a quart jar, add lukewarm water to nearly fill the jar, cover with a sprouting lid or piece of fine nylon netting secured with a rubber band and soak 8 hours or … Read more

"Baked" in the dehydrator crackers compete with the most gourmet crackers you'll find at the market. Designed for a square dehydrator, like the Excalibur, this recipe yields about 1 3/4 lbs. of … Read more

Shaping Variation: Caramel Crown
My aunt Sharon would fix Caramel Rolls for a special breakfast whenever we traveled to the Midwest to visit her, Uncle George, and my cousins John and Alayne. … Read more

Chai-Spiced Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting
Another great reason to grow or even <gasp!> buy zucchini. These cupcakes are fluffy and tender, redolent with the aromas of nutmeg, … Read more

Last fall I ready a blog post by Kathi Lipp, one of my favorite bloggers. In it she talked about the importance of hospitality in friendship. (See the original post here~ www.kathilipp.com) Many … Read more

Fragrant spices soaked in real half & half or coconut milk bloom into exquisite fullness in your refrigerator or freezer; brown sugar contributes a caramel-y undertone. With this mix you are … Read more

When the weather heats up, grill your pizza!
There is a way to make great pizza; pizza with a crackling crust and the tang of smoke, cheese that bubbles in pools around bits of garden … Read more

The ingredients are in your cupboard!
Handy sink set-up
For this season's Kitchen Wisdom finale I want to leave you with another skill in your repertoire -homemade … Read more

Kill bacteria for less then a penny a bottle
Three of the four bottles above are re-purposed. From left to right are: tabasco bottle,
tincture bottle, Sprayco pump spray bottle (new; … Read more